Package and method of sealing packages.



HARRY Y. ARMSTRONG, OF MACHINERY COMPANY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO PACKAGE OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF PACKAGE AND METHOD OF SEALING PACKAGES.-

Patented Feb. 13, 1917.

Application filed November 27, 1914. Serial No. 874.136.

I To all whom it may concern:

are then pressed together and I Be it known that I, HARRY Y. ARMSTRONG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Packages and Methods of. Sealing Packages, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a. spec1'ficat1on,l1ke reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to packages and methods of sealing packages.

The wrappers are usually secured on packages either by a string tied about the package or by means of some of the common glues or pastes applied to the'fiaps of the wrapper. In many cases it is undesirable to use a string because of its liability to slip off the package or because of the ex-v pense of tying up packages in this manner. It is often undesirable also to use the common adhesives because of their appearance;

or their liability to deteriorate under the ac .tion of atmospheric changes. Especially in Wrapping certain food stuffs are these adhesives objectionable because of undesirable characteristics that are sometimes transferred from them to the goods wrapped. It is also a common practice to wrap certain classes of goods in heavily paraffined paper which is heat sealed in a well-known manner; that .is, the overlapping flaps of the wrapper are heated sufliciently to fuse thrroiler or iron is run over paraffin on the adjacent layers of paper and cool, the wax upon hardening serving to seal the flaps tofgether. But this method is unsatisfactory or many purposes, as for instance in wrapping bread, since the ex-' pense of a paraffined paper of the quality required for heat scaling is. almost prohibitive for this purpose.

The resent'invention provides a method of sealing package wrappers in an efiicient and economical manner and produces a novel package neatly and substantially sealed. The invention'will be readily un-' derstood from the following description,

I allowed to reference bein made to the accompanying drawings, in w 1ch-.

Figure 1 1s a perspective view showing a package wrapped and ready to be sealed,-

and

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the package sealed in accordance with this invention;

The drawings show a package comprising an article wlth a wrapper 'w folded about it in awell-known manner. The method of folding the wrapper will of course vary with circumstances and tastes. In the particular case shown, the wrapper is first folded about three sides of the package. End tucks 1 are then' made at opposite ends of the package, leaving ateach end two flaps 2 and 3 which later are turned in one over the other, as shown in the drawings, so that they both lie fiat against the ends of the package. The wrapper is next tucked in at opposite ends on to the. top of the package, as indicated at 4 and 5, thus leaving two flaps 6 and 7 which, when finally, folded down, complete the wrapping of the pack- One of these flaps 6 is shown in Fig. folded flat on to the top of the package final position and the other flap 7. as

age. 1, as 1n its about to be folded into its final position.

Just before the flap 7 is folded dpwn, a-

sealing'strip .of material 8- impregn'ated or coated with a readily fusible substance, as for instance, paraflin, is laid between the overlapping portions of the flaps 6 and 7.

The flap 7 is then folded down, and a hot the top of the packagepressin'g the parts 6,. 7 and 8 together and melting the parafiin or other fusible substance that is carried by the sealing strip 8. The melted parafiin immediately penetrates and adheres to the flaps 6 and 7 and the parts 6, 7 and 8 are held in contact with each other until the pariflin has cooled sufficiently to become hard again when it seals or secures all of these parts in' either a. colorless condi-f tion or in colors suitable for use with most wrappers, and is not affected by moisture.

For most purposes the sealing strip 8 may consist of a strip of heavily paraflined paper of about the-weight used for the heavier grades of self-sealing Wrappers. This material will seal successfully a large variety of the papers ordinarily used for Wrappers, as for instance, the lighter weight waxed or paraflined papers that are much used in wrapping bread and foodstuffs because of their Water-proof propertiesbut which contain too little paraffin to be used satisfactorily as self sealing papers, the so-called glassine papers that paratus. Obviously as many. folds may be sealed in this manner as desired.

Having thus described my invention, what I clalm as new and desire to secure'by Let- 'ters Patent of the United States is:

l. A package comprising an article, a

wrapper folded about said article and a strip of sheet material carrying a readily fusible substance inserted between the wrapper flaps and secured to the wrapper flaps by said fusible substance.

2. A package comprising an article and a wrapper folded about said article, and a strip of material carrying a readily fusible substance, said strip overlapping both "flaps of the wrapper and being sealed to both of said flaps by the melting and subsequent cooling of said substance while in contact with said flaps.

3. A package comprising an article, a wrapper of lightlypara'ffined paper folded about said article and 'a strip of heavily paraflined paper to which both flaps of the wrapper are united by the paraflin carried by said strip.

4. The method of sealing package 'wrappers which consists in' introducing between the overlapping flaps to be sealed a strip of material carrying a readily fusible substance and heating saidflaps and material sufficiently to melt said substahce and thereby secure fisaid flaps together.

5. The method of sealing package wrappers which consists in overlapping the wrapper flapsto be sealed on a heavily paraffined strip of material, heating said flaps and strip sulliciently to melt the paraflin and allowing the heated parts to cool while pressing the flaps and strip together until the paraflin has hardened.

6. The method of sealing packages wrapped in lightly paraflined paper which consists in inserting between the flaps to be sealed a strip of heavily paraffined paper, simultaneously pressing together and heating said flaps sufliciently to melt said paraflin and cause it to adhere to said flaps, and holding the flaps together. until the paraffin has cooled 'sufliciently to harden.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature, in presence oftwo witnesses.

HARRY Y. ARMSTRONG.

Witnesses:

JOHN H. MGOREADY, WINIFRED NELEN.

all 

